The Trump administration's push for increased national security oversight over inbound investments has put a big spotlight on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States—and has helped to supercharge the lateral market for lawyers who can boast CFIUS expertise.

Shearman & Sterling is the latest to beef up its CFIUS practice, adding John Beahn as partner in its Washington, D.C., office. Beahn was most recently a partner in the telecommunications practice at DLA Piper, which he joined in January 2018 after practicing in the CFIUS and communications groups at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

According to a firm statement Monday, Beahn has over 20 years of experience counseling clients on national security matters, as well as supply chains, risk mitigation and compliance monitoring.

He will join partner Robert LaRussa, a former Commerce Department under secretary for international trade, in Shearman's CFIUS practice.

"John's stellar CFIUS experience will bolster our offering to help clients navigate complex cross-border transactions in an increasingly complicated regulatory and geopolitical environment,"  David Beveridge, senior partner at Shearman, said in a statement. "His arrival further strengthens our ability to advise clients on transactional matters in the U.S. and globally."

Beahn has worked with several notable clients over the years, including Virgin Mobile, Gateway, Nokia Siemens and Sprint Nextel, among others.

The Trump administration's policy priorities, as well as increased foreign investment in U.S. companies—particularly by China and in the technology sector—have significantly increased CFIUS' workload recently, with more and more transactions requiring examination.

That has helped spark a string of lateral moves as firms have worked to shore up their respective practices.

New draft CFIUS guidelines were released in September that would expand the scope of the review process. Among other things, the draft rules would require scrutiny of a broader range of investments related to technology, infrastructure and personal data.

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